The food manufacturing industry is a dynamic and fast-paced environment, but it also presents a unique set of Work Health and Safety (WHS) risks. From manual handling to chemical exposure, protecting your team is both a workplace responsibility and a critical part of a productive business.
Food manufacturers in regional NSW face practical challenges across production, cleaning, maintenance and dispatch. This article looks at five common risks from the original Safety Insights guide, with practical strategies to consider for your own workplace.
Start with the strongest controls. Eliminate risks where possible. Where they remain, consider the hierarchy of controls and use training, supervision and personal protective equipment to support — not replace — effective changes to the work.
Manual handling injuries
Lifting, carrying and pushing are everyday tasks in food manufacturing. Hazardous manual tasks can injure the back, shoulders and neck, causing pain for workers and disruption for the business.
Practical ways to reduce the risk
- Assess the task. Review manual tasks with workers, including the load, posture, repetition, force and work environment.
- Use mechanical aids. Consider suitable forklifts, pallet jacks, conveyors and work redesign to reduce manual handling. Assess the new risks these changes may introduce.
- Support safe work. Provide task-specific instruction and training. Training should support effective controls, not replace changes to poorly designed work.
Slips, trips and falls
Liquids, food waste and uneven surfaces make slips, trips and falls a common hazard in food manufacturing facilities, particularly around wash-down areas and busy walkways.
Practical ways to reduce the risk
- Keep access clear. Use a regular cleaning schedule and a clean-as-you-go approach. Deal promptly with spills and keep walkways free from obstructions.
- Improve surfaces. Review drainage, repair uneven surfaces and consider suitable slip-resistant flooring in wet areas.
- Choose suitable footwear. Select appropriate slip-resistant footwear for the actual work and conditions, alongside the other controls.
Machinery and equipment injuries
Food processing machinery can cause serious harm if it is not used and maintained safely. Risks include cuts, amputations and entanglement, including during cleaning, clearing blockages and maintenance.
Practical ways to reduce the risk
- Check guarding. Make sure machinery has appropriate guarding and that guards and safety devices are maintained and not bypassed.
- Isolate energy. Implement suitable lock-out/tag-out procedures for cleaning and maintenance, including verification of isolation and control of stored energy.
- Confirm competence. Provide operators with equipment-specific instruction, training and supervision, and verify their competence for the task.
Exposure to hazardous substances
Cleaning chemicals, sanitisers and other hazardous substances are common in food manufacturing. Exposure can cause skin irritation, respiratory problems and other health effects.
Practical ways to reduce the risk
- Know the chemicals. Maintain a hazardous chemical register with current Safety Data Sheets (SDS), and use that information to assess handling, storage and exposure risks.
- Reduce exposure. Consider eliminating or substituting hazardous products where practical, and use appropriate ventilation and handling arrangements.
- Select appropriate PPE. Use suitable gloves, eye protection and respiratory protection where required by the assessment, with correct selection, use and maintenance. PPE is not the only control.
Noise-induced hearing loss
Ongoing exposure to machinery noise can damage hearing over time. Noise risks need assessment; they should not be judged only by whether a machine seems loud or a worker reports discomfort.
Practical ways to reduce the risk
- Assess exposure. Arrange suitable noise assessments and review them when equipment, tasks or work arrangements change.
- Control at the source. Consider quieter equipment, maintenance, isolation and engineering controls to reduce noise before relying on hearing protection.
- Protect hearing. Provide and enforce suitable hearing protection where needed, with instruction on correct use. Check applicable current requirements for hearing testing and other measures.
MAKE IT PART OF THE WORK
Review the controls. Keep the conversation going.
Talk with workers about how tasks actually happen, record the actions you agree on, and check that the controls are working. Revisit your assessment when processes, equipment or conditions change, or an incident reveals a gap.
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